Home > Health > MOMania > Archives > 2007 > September
September 2007
Missing a missing dog
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Our family dog is missing!
He took off around 11:30 p.m. Tuesday when I took him out to pee. He paused in front of our neighbor’s house like a child who was testing his parent. I called him back, but he didn’t move. I threw him part of a pork chop from dinner hoping he’d come closer so I could grab him. But he ran off instead.
All three kids were sleeping and my husband was away on business so I couldn’t leave the kids to go chase the dog. I waited until my Dad could come to my house and then drove around for 30 minutes screaming his name out my car window at midnight. I didn’t see him and he didn’t wander back home.
I know I complain a lot about our dog, but I really do miss him and love him. The whole house just feels empty without him - even with the three kids. I keep stepping on his toys and his leashes. It makes me so sad to wake up and him not be there. It’s downright weird.
About an hour before he took off, he was sitting in my lap watching a movie with me. All the kids were asleep, which meant it was finally his turn to get some attention. I sat there with him, cuddled in my lap, scratching him and rubbing him all over. How could he run off after we’d had such a nice time together?
I started my search again the next morning - driving around, yelling for him, putting up signs, calling the vet, the groomer, animal control, our old neighbors, and putting an ad in the newspaper.
We have multiple construction crews working along the main street near our neighborhood installing sidewalks and building houses. Many on the crew were Hispanic so when my English failed, I tried to remember what Dora called her dog on TV. I kept saying “perdito” to them, which I later found out doesn’t mean little dog or anything at all for that matter. No wonder they looked confused.
Some of our new neighbors were helpful. One searched for him on her walk, even checking a creek and some woods that are down the street. Other neighbors weren’t quite as nice telling me, “You know, we have lots of coyotes around here.”
Great. Thanks. I’ll be sure to tell my three children that when I tuck them in at night.
Our dog definitely has a little wanderlust in him. I hear that’s common for Shih Tzus. He used to take off in our old neighborhood but we would always find him one cul-de-sac over. We actually acquired our dog three years ago when we found him in the middle of the street. It took us two weeks to locate his owners and they didn’t want him back.
After talking to them we had decided we weren’t giving him back anyways. They told us they had been letting their child shave his hair and had been feeding him Cat Chow. (Why would you do that? Is cat food cheaper than dog food?)
It just makes me sick to think about him out there alone. He’s not very outdoorsy. He has bad allergies so we give him Benadryl twice a day. He’s been on antibiotics three times this summer for skin infections, and he tends to throw up a lot. (He has a slightly sensitive stomach.)
The older kids have several plans to get him back. First, they think we should call in Scooby Doo and the gang to locate him. Then, they want to hire detective Nate the Great from the children’s book series to work the case. Finally, they plan to meow off the porch to attract him home. Rose spent much of Wednesday afternoon doing this.
I think the baby misses him the most. While the kids are in school, he’s her companion. She chases him, tries to pet him and tries to climb in his bed with him. I’m sad that she might grow up without a family dog.
UPDATE: Our dog has been found! Hooray! He was picked up several miles down the road about 24 hours after his adventure began. A tow-truck driver almost ran him over and took him home to Loganville to keep him safe. The family called us late Friday afternoon and we picked him up Friday night. We’re so relieved to have him home safely. I think he was worried he was in trouble when we first picked him up — he wouldn’t look me in the eye, but when we got him home he zoomed around the backyard sniffing all his favorite places. And then he peed on my kitchen floor. Welcome home doggie!
Permalink | Comments (48) | Categories: Columns that ran in the newspaper
Where’s good hiking for kids?
Where are the best trails for small children to tackle?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
You know we’re not outdoorsy, and we’re probably asking for trouble, but we would love to take the kids to the mountains to see the fall foliage and hike around a bit.
Where are the best trails to take small children? We would prefer North Georgia but we are open to Tennessee and North Carolina. We’re looking for trails they can actually walk themselves - not too steep or dangerous. We’d love to see waterfalls and creeks but again not too dangerous. We would also probably have the baby in a backpack carrier on my husband so the terrain can’t be too rocky.
Where have you had successful family hiking adventures?
Permalink | Comments (37) | Categories: Family Life
Tackle football OK for kids?
South Gwinnett player’s injury and pro-player’s injury worry me as a mom.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
My girlfriend just moved to Texas and apparently the little boys out there only play tackle football. Her second grader was a little surprised when he went out to join the neighborhood boys for a little game.
I’m been thinking a lot about tackle football since my girlfriend’s phone call and then I saw the sad news about a South Gwinnett High School football player that suffered a spinal cord injury last week that left him unable to walk. He has been identified in news reports as Arquevious Crane, an 11th grader at the school. He was injured Thursday in a junior varsity game against Buford High School. (Here’s the story.)
A Buffalo Bills player was injured during the team’s season opener earlier this month trying to make a tackle. Thankfully he’s doing much better, but they still don’t know how complete his recovery will be. (Here’s the latest on his condition.)
As a mother this just scares me to death. I just don’t think playing the game is worth the potential for injury. (You know my husband disagrees with this analysis.) I’m sure some injuries happen in basketball, but I’m far more comfortable with that sport than football. Maybe that is why so many American kids have started playing soccer - less contact, less danger.
How old should kids be to start tackle football? Does it worry you? Do you think neighborhood games with no pads, no supervision and mixed age levels are more dangerous than organized league play? Have you steered your children toward other sports because of the dangers inherent to football?
Permalink | Comments (75) | Categories: Health
‘Working Mother’ names top companies
Did your company make the magazine's annual list of the best companies for mothers? How does your employer compare with the magazine's criteria?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“Working Mother’ magazine released today its annual list of the top 100 best companies for working mothers. (Here’s the full list.) Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., both of Atlanta, made the list.
The press release says, “Companies were selected for the 2007 Working Mother 100 Best Companies based on an extensive application of 575 questions. The application included detailed questions about workforce, compensation, child-care and flexibility programs, leave policies and more.”
“Seven areas were measured and scored: workforce profile, compensation, child care, flexibility, time off and leaves, family-friendly programs, and company culture. For this year’s 100 Best, particular weight was given to flexibility and family-friendly policies.”
Last year, Aflac Inc. of Atlanta also made the list but this year was not on it. The PR agent didn’t get back to me on why the company wasn’t on the list again.
The press release noted that working mothers under 40 (Generations X and Y) are demanding different things from their companies than their predecessors
The release says: “At the forefront of the talent wars, these young employees aren’t buying into antiquated notions of what it means to be a good worker. Dedicated to family and friends more than their jobs and to their own careers rather than their companies, X and Y are saying to corporate America, shape up or we’re shipping out.
“At ease with technology that allows them to redefine the when and where of how they do business, they are carving out time for family, reshaping office norms, and demanding that employers recognize the value of work-life balance.”
“Telecommuting, flextime and compressed workweeks that were inconceivable to Traditionalist and Boomers are standard at the 100 Best Companies, with many of them going much farther into new territory where companies leave the employee in charge of hours and worksite.”
How does your company compare? Does it value your family time? Does it trust your judgment as to when and where you should work?” Do you think this movement is only happening in the top tier companies that have large financial resources or is it happening in regular businesses around the country?
Permalink | Comments (47) | Categories: Family Life
Google mapping the ones you love
Has technology changed the way your family communicates? Has it affected your children’s perspective of the world?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A few weeks ago the baby was playing in the basement with my husband and the kids. I came downstairs and took the baby away for her nap. My 4-year-old son came over to my husband and said, “Where’s the baby?” My husband declared, “She must be missing.” My son replied. “Well, then we’d better Google Map her.”
We, of course, cracked up at his comment, but on later reflection it crystallized for me how much my son and daughter are truly children of the 21st century. Their perceptions of the world, their understanding of life and often the way they learn are all influenced by the Internet and technology.
For many families there has been a fundamental shift in home life similar to what happened when electricity and telephones became commonplace in residences. Technology has transformed how modern families communicate, how children relate to the world and how families stay connected.
My son knows about Google Map because we use it to help the kids feel connected to their father when he travels for business. We usually Google Map his hotel in whatever city he’s visiting, often Manhattan. We look at what streets he might walk to get to work. We look at what monuments or tourist attractions he might see on his way.
Their favorite part is when we switch from the regular map to the satellite hybrid image. The hybrid is an aerial photo of the city with the streets and important buildings labeled. We can actually see the basketball courts on top of the Associated Press’s headquarters in New York City. They love thinking about their Daddy playing ball on a roof with his colleagues.
Our daily communication also has been affected by technology. Whether it’s cell phone, IM and email, we check in throughout the day. My husband knows how Rose did at school, whether Walsh got in trouble and if the baby ate her smashed up bananas long before he walks in the door.
My husband uses IMs all day long with his colleagues and has added me to his buddy list. I like the IM because he can respond immediately even if he’s on a conference call or on his cell phone. It seems a slightly odd way to communicate with your spouse, but I guess wives thought it was weird when husbands started calling them on the phone too.
He emails me, as do a lot of couples. But, lately he’s started CCing me on things — mainly his flight and hotel reservations. You would think we could just have a conversation to coordinate plans, but when we tried to review his schedule at night he would only roughly remember the dates of his trips and that just aggravated me. The CCing struck me as impersonal and business-like at first, but now I have dates, times, airlines and the locations for all his trips in an easy-to-search format.
My husband has been pushing me to share an online calendar with him as well, but I haven’t evolved that far yet. He could conveniently check it on his Treo. I could not so conveniently drag around a lap top. It’s not practical for our family - at least not yet.
Even when we’re doing something old-fashioned, the computer comes into play. A few weeks ago, my husband was reading one of his favorite childhood books to our son. He was finishing up “Scuffy the Tugboat” when our son asked, “What cartoon is this guy from?”
His understanding of the world is that there are crossovers - book characters appear on TV and on computer games.
My husband tried to explain it’s just a story. It’s not based on a cartoon. Our son thought about that answer and then said, “Well does it have a dot.com?”
When to pierce ears, other body parts?
What is the right age to let daughters or sons pierce ears? How about other body parts?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
What is an appropriate age to let your daughter, or son, get her, or his, ears pierced? How about other body parts? Are ears a gateway piercing? Do they lead to other body parts being pierced?
With my husband’s family being Filipino and Italian I was under a lot of pressure to pierce my first daughter’s ears when she was an itty, bitty baby. I told them there was no way I was punching holes in my tiny baby. But lots and lots of cultures do.
I told them she could choose when and if she wanted to have her ears pierced when she was older. At 6 she has brought it up once. I’m waiting for an avalanche of begging before even beginning to consider it. It’s painful and a responsibility to keep the new holes clean. It can also be dangerous if little girls play in too big of earrings and they get ripped out.
I think I was in the first or second grade when I asked to pierce mine. I was ready to tell them to stop after they shot the first hole with that gun. My brother secretly did his as a teenager in the ’80s when it was very in for boys to get pierced. Neither of us ever did any other body parts. (At least I don’t think he did.)
When do kids get to choose to get ears pierced? Are they allowed to choose other piercings as well? What’s the difference? Is it taboo for boys to get pierced now or acceptable?
Permalink | Comments (91) | Categories: Health
Would you be a foster parent?
Hundreds of homes are needed throughout Fulton and DeKalb. Would you offer up your home?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A new independent report has found that hundreds of foster homes are needed in Fulton and DeKalb counties. The report found that more than 40 percent of foster children in those counties had to be placed in homes outside of their counties due to the shortage. Here’s the story.
The AJC’s story says that “Fulton needs 500 more foster homes, or 1,500 more beds for the children, most of whom are removed from their parents due to abuse or neglect.”
“While DeKalb has enough beds for the number of foster children, the county does not have enough homes that suit the special needs of these children. Many of the foster parents are not sufficiently trained or don’t have room to handle teenagers, large sibling groups or children with emotional problems, the report said.”
“To meet the needs of troubled adolescents, the state must recruit 325 more foster home beds in DeKalb, said the report prepared by Hornby Zeller Associates.”
“Consequently some children are placed in foster homes that cannot handle them. Others are placed outside their home county, which can strain efforts to keep children in touch with their birth families and eventually reunite the families, experts say.”
Would you ever offer up your home to be a foster home? Why or why not?
One of our friends trained last year to become foster parents in Gwinnett. They are still waiting to be matched with a child. They’re only requirement is that the child be younger than their two daughters. They didn’t want to take a teen-ager who might potentially hurt their own children.
I admire this family so much for being willing to take in and love another child. At this point, I feel like I have too much to handle, but maybe as our children grow. I worry that I wouldn’t want to give the child up after they lived with us.
One of my son’s preschool teachers took in two tweens and ended up adopting them. So now they have four kids - pretty brave. What do you think? Could you feel a calling to be a foster family?
Permalink | Comments (9) | Categories: Ethics of rearing kids today
Having kids means losing your cool
How's your cool factor? Given up on keeping up? Do you think you get cooler again as your kids get older?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It’s taken me a few years, but I’m ready to own it — I’m ready to admit that I am now uncool.
I don’t think its just getting older that makes you less hip. I think it’s those tiny little people we live with.
My theory is that as mothers we spend so much energy raising our children that we only have a few minutes to concentrate on ourselves. We do the bare minimum to make ourselves presentable and have zero time to pursue the frivolity of fashion or pop culture.
I recently read a column from a 30-something man who was exhausted from keeping up with all the trends. He was finally ready to say he wanted to listen to the music he liked in college and wear the jeans that looked best on his butt even if nobody else had them on.
As I was reading the article I couldn’t decide: Is this maturity or just giving up? Are we being lazy or is losing our cool the natural progression of parenthood?
One of my husband’s co-workers, who is about six years younger than me, threw a party in 2002. She wanted all the guests to dress like the ’90s. I was baffled. I called my girlfriend, “What does she mean dress like the ’90s? I’m still wearing the clothes I wore in the ’90s — every single day.”
That’s when it hit me — that’s how my mother ended up with dresses in her closet from the ’60s and ’70s when I was a kid in the ’80s. I loved going through her closet - she had a few crazy polyester dresses with bright colors. And a couple of sweaters that looked like they were straight off Annette Funicello.
If it fits, not stained, nor ripped then its still fair game - you can wear it. This is how moms end up 20 years behind the times before they even realize it.
My out-of-touchness extends beyond fashion and into the realm of pop culture. I stay pretty current on TV because it is something I can do while nursing a baby. Music and stars on the other hand I have fallen woefully behind.
As I watched parts of the MTV Video Music Awards last week, the cameras would flash to people and I had no idea who they were. Random rapper, random guy with messy hair and eyeliner - I had no clue. I’m sure they were somebodies, but not to me.
I didn’t do much better with the songs. I would click back and forth between the awards show and the “Iron Chef” muttering things like, “Boy that was loud.” “No idea what he’s saying.” “What in the world was that all about?”
The highlight of the show for me was when Alicia Keyes broke into a rendition of George Michael’s “Freedom.” That I knew. It was the only part of the show I could sing along to.
Is this the fate of all parents? Can it be avoided? Do we have the energy to stop the inevitable backslide of coolness?
I think moms who work in offices stay more current than stay-at-home moms. They are around other people who dress well, and they have to look equally pulled together. Moms who go into offices also get to talk with some adults that don’t have kids. These people might know a few cool things.
I believe there is hope. I think as the kids get older, moms regain a little of their cool. Take for example my mother. My mother looks better now than she did when I was growing up. Why is that you say? Because she’s not taking care of two kids anymore.
She’s working out several times a week. She’s updated her hair and clothes. And she bought some very chic sunglasses. She looks awesome. And it all corresponds with her children growing up.
One of my girlfriend commented the other day that the middle school moms looked pretty together. They were thinner. Their clothes were updated. They had on make-up. She actually added that they didn’t smell. High standards!
I’ve got five more years until I’m a middle-school mom, but for now I am officially fuddy and duddy.
Do you buy organic baby food?
Is it simply a marketing ploy or do you think it really makes a difference?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
So our little one is starting baby food. We’ve done the cereals for a few weeks and it’s time for a vegetable. So I went to the grocery store to buy some jars of baby food. Since my last baby, Gerber has developed a line of organic baby food. I think it was about .50 cents more (It was like .95 cents for a two-pack of the regular, and $1.45 I think for the organic. I can’t remember if the organic had two or one in it. Surely, it was two.)
So I’m standing there with the baby crying trying to decide if I needed to buy the organic baby food. Was I being cheap if I didn’t buy it? Would it really make a difference? Is it just a marketing ploy? Would a few months on organic matter since I don’t buy organic for the rest of us? Should I be buying organic for the rest of us?
I think it’s very easy to guilt parents into buying more expensive and name-brand products when dealing with babies. I still buy Johnson & Johnson brand baby lotion and shampoo specifically for the baby. (The other two get Jergens and Suave.) And I’m all about the Pampers. I only put non-name brand diapers on a kid when I was trying to get them out of diapers.
So is this a marketing ploy by baby food companies to make me spend more? The ingredients listed were exactly the same. I understand the vegetables in the organic wouldn’t have been treated with pesticides. But, surely the regular baby food isn’t unhealthy or unsafe or else they couldn’t be selling it? Right? (That’s what we used to think about our children’s toys.)
I’m seeing the pediatrician today so I’ll see what he thinks.
What do you think? Is it worth the extra money to buy organic baby food (and other food) or are we just being manipulated by the marketing?
Permalink | Comments (40) | Categories: Health
Should a parent’s weight affect adoption?
Should a loving parent who is heavy not be allowed to adopt?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A 500-pound man in Missouri was told by a judge that he would not be allowed to adopt a relative’s child because of his weight. The mother of the child specifically chose her cousin and his wife to take care of her child. The have adopted before and are trained foster parents. The couple has cared for the baby since he was a week old and went to the court just to make it official. Here is the link to the original story.
The baby’s court appointed guardian said the weight was not the only concern. There was also worry that the man might develop diabetes or sleep apnea because of his size.
The man has since started losing weight on his own and then was offered a free gastric-bypass surgery by a sympathetic doctor. Here’s the story on the surgery.
I am so sad for this family. Yes, preferably everyone would be a healthy weight, but children born to fat parents aren’t taken away. How can the possibility of this man developing sleep apnea even begin to outweigh the fact that these are loving people chosen for this baby by his birth mother? These are the people that have been feeding him, rocking him to sleep and loving him for one-week shy of his entire life. How can taking him away from that secure and loving home be better for this child?
Here are some other viewpoints on this story: The first is an adoption blog that has been following the case. The second is a column from the San Antonio Express-News.
What do you think?
Permalink | Comments (75) | Categories: Ethics of rearing kids today
Held hostage by school fundraisers
Do your kids enjoy asking neighbors for money? Would you rather just write a check? What approaches does your child's school use?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Over the Labor Day holiday, I was trying to figure out how to hit up my father-in-law for a donation for my daughter’s school’s Boosterthon Fun Run!
Technically, it’s supposed to be my first-grader soliciting for donations - but really how many 6-year-olds are out there raising money? It’s the parents.
I understand schools need money beyond what the government or private tuition provides, but I think I’d just rather write a check to the school than go through the embarrassment and trouble of asking friends.
I’m not sure how this aversion developed. I used to love knocking on neighbors’ doors as a kid for the Walk-A-Thon or selling Krispy Kremes for the high school newspaper. But now, I’m just really uncomfortable hitting up our neighbors for money. (Grandparents are about as far as I will go.)
Last year, the school sold wrapping paper. I asked my mother and one neighbor, who I knew liked to wrap things nicely. This year the school is doing an event where you sponsor a child for each lap that they walk or run.
The kids must have watched a pitch video showing them exactly what to say and do with their hands when soliciting for money. My daughter is like a bad Ginsu Knife salesman. “I want you” — she points to you— “to sponsor me” —she points to herself. “One dollar” — she holds up one finger — “per lap” — she does a little flat circle with her hands.
She did her spiel for my mom over the phone so Mimi missed out on seeing the hand motions.
I don’t think the actual events and products are bad. The wrapping paper is a fine product that we used. And, I went to the Boosterthon Thursday and the kids had a great time. There was lots of fun music, lots of parents showed up to cheer them on. The kids also got some exercise - my daughter ran/walked almost 2 miles. The event was fine — I just don’t like the fund-raising part but I guess that’s the purpose.
My absolute favorite fundraiser has to be the Spring Art Auction. It is positively brilliant - it strokes the parents’ egos, it makes the kids feel special, you get something in return for your donation and it doesn’t involve you asking other people for money. However, it does make me into a giant sucker.
For the unacquainted, here’s how it works. Your child creates a piece of art in art class. Then the art teacher holds this piece of art hostage until you pay the ransom. You do get it back with a nice, yet overpriced, frame placed around it.
Last spring I ignored the notices about the upcoming art auction until one special one came home. It was a postcard with a shrunk down color copy of a desert scene painted by my daughter. The words were something like: Art Auction featuring “Cactus Out West,” By Rose Giarrusso. I was blown away. I’m so stupid that I thought my child’s artwork was so good that it was sent out to everyone advertising the auction.
My husband just shook his head and explained that every parent got a postcard with their own child’s artwork and name on it. What an ingenious direct marketing plan. Who wouldn’t show up to buy their child’s painting after seeing that?
We got all dressed up for the art show, brought all the kids and brought the grandparents. We purchased the original for ourselves and two “reproductions” for other family members. Remember, they scanned in the artwork to create the postcards so then they could print out more copies of the painting to sell to other relatives. Pretty clever.
My husband missed the event because he had to work, but I actually think he boycotted it. He was offended by the whole concept, saying having to buy back your own child’s artwork was like negotiating with terrorists. If you hung tough, they would eventually return it for free.
Boozing it up at the MTV awards
MTV is revamping to include free-flowing alcohol. Do our kids really need to see this?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I read in the Aug. 31st issue of “Entertainment Weekly” that in an effort to increase ratings and re-invent themselves yet again, MTV is revamping its MTV Video Music Awards. Among the changes: Filming the awards show all around the Palms Casino Resort and, like the Golden Globes, letting the liquor flow freely to the participants. (Hopefully all will be of legal age!) The show will air this Sunday and only once.
I officially feel like an old fogie saying this, but do we really need MTV corrupting our kids anymore?
They’ve taught out daughters how to dress trashy and dance way too provocatively. They’ve taught our sons how be thugs and be disrespectful to women.
And now you can argue they are promoting, and at the very least glamorizing, drinking and gambling.
You know I’m no teetotaler. Have a beer, have some wine but let’s not make it look like the greatest thing in the world to our very impressionable teen-agers, who already think these music stars are the coolest things around.
I think the Golden Globes are mostly adults participating (except for the occasional Dakota Fanning) with adults watching. We know alcohol combined with speeches means funny speeches, but does MTV really need to encourage it? Aren’t a lot of the musicians already toasted?
What do you think? Should MTV allow the alcohol to flow freely at the awards show? Will you watch it with your tweens and teens? Will you talk with them about it?
Permalink | Comments (34) | Categories: Ethics of rearing kids today
Are good sleepers born or made?
Can you help your children get more and better sleep?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Are children born good sleepers or can they be trained to be good sleepers?
My oldest daughter has never been a good sleeper. She has always had a hard time falling asleep. When she was little we would lay down with her for at least an hour a night rubbing her back, trying to help her settle down. Then when her brother came, we didn’t have the time to do that. Our rule was as long as she stayed in her bed, it was OK for her to fall asleep when it happened for her naturally.
It didn’t used to matter too much that she was getting less sleep than most preschoolers but now that she’s in school I think it is having an impact. So we’re back trying to teach her some relaxation techniques to help her fall asleep sooner. I am also having them run around the backyard in the afternoon trying to wear them out.
Two moms have told me recently on separate occasions that their pediatricians recommended giving their elementary-age school children Melatonin to help them fall asleep faster. Here’s a Web site about it. It seems like it needs to be studied some more. Have you heard of this?
Our son on the other hand has always been a great sleeper. He goes to sleep almost as soon as his head touches the pillow.
Is it chemical? Is it personality? Is it a learned skill?
We’re not sure what kind of sleeper the baby is yet. Currently, she’s waking a lot because of teething. She’s also waking in the middle of the night to practice her skills. It will be 1 a.m. and she wakes up ready to work on crawling and babbling. (I know this is a normal thing but it’s also no fun.)
Are your kids good sleepers? What do you do to encourage them to sleep? Do your kids have a hard time settling at night? How many hours of sleep are they really getting?
Permalink | Comments (59) | Categories: Health
Many obstacles to raising a free-range baby
The to-do list seems endless when baby proofing a house. How did you handle the siblings’ toys, pets and hardwood floors?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
My 5 1/2-month old baby is crawling toward her big brother’s room. She’s doing a combination of an army-man leg drag and a real crawl, lifting her booty high up into the air as she moves those knees. She is heading out her bedroom door and straight into a death trap. Her brother’s room is a veritable mine-field of tiger eye marbles, Ben 10 action figures, tiny magnetic X-Men, and hundreds of Legos.
My little darling started crawling several months ahead of schedule. She began moving a little bit at 4 months and has gradually added speed. Now she’s unstoppable.
So far I’ve been baby proofing like the Little Dutch Boy and the dyke — plugging holes as they erupt. I’m constantly picking up tiny toys, closing off dangerous rooms and moving her away from heavy furniture. I have performed triage for many immediate dangers, but there are still countless plugs to fill, gates to hang and hearths to cushion.
While my husband was out of town in August, I called my parents for an emergency crib lowering and gate installation. The baby started moving with a little bit more vigor and was perching herself up on the bumper pads right near the top of the crib. I was worried she was going to leap out. Taking care of those items made me feel a little better, but the basement stairs still need a gate.
When we moved in, I decided to put the small toys in the kids’ bedrooms and not in the playroom. It might work out later, but for now, I’m not sure it was the right decision. We’ve been closing the kids’ doors to keep her from these choking hazards but that definitely isn’t fool-proof. One friend suggested gating their doors permanently, but that doesn’t seem like a great solution either.
While tiny toys abound upstairs at least it is carpeted. The main level is mostly hardwoods - which are great when toddlers are spilling stuff but terrible when babies are crawling. I fruitlessly try to keep her on two blankets in the family room, but she keeps wandering off. It’s too hot for thick pants, so I bought her baby knee pads to protect those pudgy knees. My 4-year-old keeps using them as sweatbands.
In our other house, we had massive freestanding plastic gates blocking off the fireplace, stereo and TV stand, kind of like the Great Wall of China. I have a tremendous, and I think reasonable, fear of a TV crushing one of my children. The wall looked so terrible I am reluctant to set up the system again. Awhile back I did buy some special straps that hold the TV to the cabinet, but since they were disconnected for the move and I’m not sure they’re still sticky enough. I’d just replace the straps, but no one seems to be selling them anymore.
We haven’t purchased our office furniture yet. So I’m while I’m working the baby keeps crawling under the folding table to chew on the computer’s wires. This is bad all the way around - table could crush her, computer could crush her, wires could strangle her. So we have a little game we play: I get up and set her down at the other end of the room. She crawls toward me and the table and then we start all over again.
Not only am I dodging dangerous objects, I’m trying to keep her away from areas where I know the dog hangs out.
She and the dog keep having moments. She’s just his height. Their eyes meet. She gets all excited and starts to grab at this fur. He runs. She starts chasing after him as quickly as she can. I’m not quite sure who I should be more worried about. I know what you’re thinking: Just stick her in the pack ’n’ play and be done with it. But she needs to explore, and she cries in the play yard. She wants to roam. She’s a free-range baby.
